Slip shows how to secure female STEM talent

The UK falls behind the rest of the world in the number of women in STEM careers, ranking 31st out of 69 countries, according to women-led retail tech start-up Slip. That number is rising, however, and in the last six months, online searches for women working in science, technology, engineering and math have increased by 223%.

The International Labor Organization has conducted global research to show that in the UK only two fifths (40.1%) of STEM workers are women, which is over 10% behind the leading countries: Georgia (55.6%), Mongolia (52.6%) and Kiribati (51.7%). The countries with the greatest need for improvement for women in STEM are Niger (9.8%), the United Arab Emirates (15.4%) and Pakistan (18.9%).

How Slip used woman-to-woman recruiting to attract women to STEM

As a startup run by women, Slip aims to break this cycle by prioritizing various STEM jobs and engaging with young women. When recruiting for tech positions, only 10% of applications were women. With a mission to hire more women in STEM fields, the co-founders reached out to women engineers to explore potential employment opportunities.

Interestingly, female co-founder Tash Grossman had a 60% response rate, while male co-founder Eddy Herman had no responses. This indicates the power of woman-to-woman communication, with candidates also sharing a desire to work in technology companies founded by women.

Lack of female role models in the technique shown to young women

With only 5% of leadership positions in technology held by women, there is a lack of role models for women aspiring to enter and thrive in STEM careers. When interviewing a woman for an internship at Slip, the candidate shared that none of the tech entrepreneur speaking engagements were by women. This suggests that lack of representation may be a factor in the lack of women in STEM careers.

Tash Grossman, co-founder and CEO of Slip said: “As the founder of a tech startup, I am passionate about getting more women interested in STEM subjects and careers. The best way to encourage more women in tech is to provide female role models within the education system and among students. Current education systems make women feel that technology is an inaccessible industry in which to thrive – we need to change that narrative and encourage women’s empowerment in this space.”